Easy Homemade Sushi

Every other Sunday my husband and I get together with his family and we take turns cooking a family meal. This Sunday it was our turn to cook and we chose to make homemade sushi! Making sushi at home is a lot easier than it seems and much cheaper. We all know going out to a sushi restaurant can be a bit expensive and you'll typically end up paying around $15 per roll. Well we spent a total of $15 for all of the ingredients and the bamboo mat needed and we were able to make up to six sushi rolls! I'm now going to share with you the supplies, ingredients and steps to make homemade sushi!

1. Cook the rice according to the directions on the back of the rice pack. We used 2 cups of rice and that was enough for six rolls. We also used a rice cooker for our sushi rice but you can use a pan on the stove, both methods work.

2. Wash and cut your produce. Make sure to peel the cucumber after you've washed it and take out the core and seeds from the jalapeño. After everything is cut, separate your produce and put it aside to make it easy for when you begin to roll the sushi.

3. While the rice is cooking I like to prepare my station for the rolling process. Grab a bowl and add a bit of water to it, you'll need to wet your hands/fingers before touching the rice because it will stick to your hands/fingers if they're dry. Next you'll need to grab a cup and fill it up with water, you'll also need to wet your knife when cutting the sushi roll otherwise it won't cut through the roll. I find that using a cup for the knife is easier and better than using a bowl.

4. Once the rice has finished cooking it's time to start the rolling process. Start by laying down a dry sheet of seaweed over your bamboo mat. Take a spoonful of rice and place it over the seaweed. Dip your hands/fingers into water then spread the rice leaving about an inch or two from both the top and bottom of the seaweed.

5. To make a California Roll add imitation crab, cucumber and avocado to the top where the rice begins. To make a Philadelphia Roll add imitation crab (in place of smoked salmon), cream cheese, jalapeño and avocado to the top where the rice beings.

6. Begin rolling the sushi roll starting where you put down your ingredients pressing tightly to really mold the rice. Continue rolling until it's completely closed then give it one last squeeze. Set it to the side until you've finished making all of your sushi rolls.

7. After you've finished rolling the sushi, it's time to cut them. Dip your sharp knife in water first then gently cut through the sushi roll cutting 1-1½ inch pieces. If you cut them too thin they'll fall apart.

8. Once they're all cut lay them out on a platter then you can begin to style them with sauces and toppings.

9. Enjoy your sushi! Instead of using soy sauce to dip our sushi into we used Ponzu sauce and in my opinion it taste way better than soy sauce and it's less salty too.

Here's how we styled our rolls (we made a total of six rolls, three Californias and three Philadelphias). We left one of each plain, just added some sesame seeds. We then drizzled sriracha mayo and sushi sauce to one of each. For the last two we got more creative and drizzled sriracha mayo and sushi sauce to both then added crushed Flamin' Hot Cheetos to one and shredded imitation crab and sesame seeds to the other.

I hope I explained this well enough for you to understand and make this at home. Our family loved the flavor and presentation of our sushi. Try this at home, make it for your loved ones and I guarantee they'll be impressed. Until next time friends, take care!